Post Traumatic Tour: A Setlist Discussion

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If you've been following along with the Post Traumatic Tour coverage, you'll know it's been a wild ride. We're only one official leg though the tour, and the setlist has almost completely morphed. We have different openers, different extensions, and even new songs popping up out of the blue.

With so much potential, there's a LOT of possibilities for songs Mike could play. I asked Twitter and our Discord chat what songs they'd want to hear, and here's some of their answers. In this thread we'll be looking at all the possibilities Mike could bring into the set. And Mike, if you're reading this... firstly, hi! Tell the crew they're doing an awesome job. Secondly, whatever you add to the set is completely up to you, we just have fun picking stuff like this out! And anyone else reading this, remember that, as well: what Mike adds to his set is ultimately up to him, but hopefully some of these suggestions will find their way in.

Anyway, let's get started. Let's begin with what we love the most: rare shit. These are some of the most requested songs that are considered rarities because they haven't been played in a long time OR they've never been played at all.

RARITIES

No Roads Left - LOTS of people responded on Twitter and Discord for this one. Fans have been requesting 'No Roads Left' in a setlist since the Minutes To Midnight Tour. The song was rehearsed in 2008, but ultimately Mike just wasn't ready to sing it live. The only time 'No Roads Left' was ever performed live was when Mike briefly sang the first verse and chorus during the extended bridge of 'Bleed It Out' in Japan 2011. We won't sugarcoat it - it was a bit bumpy. HOWEVER, Mike's voice is in better shape than it has ever been. Just listen to him absolutely nail it on songs like 'Roads Untraveled' and 'Sorry For Now.' Mike could really do 'No Roads Left' some justice... If there ever was a time to whip this one out, it's now the time. If you wanna have fun with it, make it a "Roads Rotation" spot, alternating 'Roads Untraveled' and 'No Roads Left' between shows. Just an idea!

High Voltage - Another highly requested track, 'High Voltage' was a big highlight when Mike added it to his 2015 Fort Minor set. It was a riot back in 2001 when Linkin Park performed the Mike Shinoda remix version of it, too. It's simply a real jam of a track that has the place exploding, evidenced by all the random times it's appeared as a verse over the years. Whether we see the 2001 Remix version or the Fort Minor Suicide Music mashup version, fans will certainly be pleased with it.

Cigarettes - When we say fans want 'Cigarettes,' we mean fans want the 2015 Live Version of 'Cigarettes.' You're probably familiar with how Mike performs 'Papercut' nowadays with the vocoder and such - this version of 'Cigarettes' was sort of the precursor to that. The rebuilt dramatic instrumental and that incredible ending - it's a damn shame it hasn't been performed more. Bringing it back for the Post Traumatic Tour would be awesome.

It Goes Through - This is more of a personal request, but I can do that, because I'm the one writing this post. Checkmate. Anyway, of all the tracks from the MALL Soundtrack, this one has to be the most unappreciated. Seeing this one life would be simply stunning. Those melodies, that synth solo... add some stage production to it and you have a live classic.

Others - This is a post for the fans, by the fans. I could keep writing this list for hours, but frankly it's late and no one's going to read all of that anyway. We received dozens of other ideas from you guys on Discord and Twitter, and some recurring songs were: 'Final Masquerade,' 'Waiting For Tomorrow' (this could be a cool interlude moment or something like 'Darker Than Blood' was in 2015), 'Slip Out The Back' (shoutout to our friends at LPFanCorner), and 'Invisible.'

POST TRAUMATIC SONGS

Mike debuted 'Hold It Together' live at the last show of the Asian Tour in Singapore after rehearsing it earlier in the day. That's all he needs to have a song prepared to perform live: a couple runs at soundcheck. That's literally the precedent. There's no point writing up something for each song that hasn't been performed yet, but I think I can safely say everyone wants to hear the rest of Post Traumatic played live! At this point it seems inevitable that we'll eventually hear the rest of the record live at some point on the tour, so we'll just have to wait and see when certain songs pop up. Personally, I can't wait to hear 'Promises I Can't Keep' live! Of course, adding more songs will mean having to eventually adding more rotations or even playing a longer set but... Mike doesn't seem like he'll have a problem with that. As a little refresher, here is a list of the songs from the record that haven't been performed yet:

Nothing Makes Sense Anymore

Brooding - this could be used a cool intro to either the show or the encore!

Promises I Can't Keep

Lift Off - Mike's performing with the Deftones in November, maybe we'll see the song performed with Chino Moreno then!

World's On Fire - LOTS of fans were asking for this one on Twitter and Discord

Can't Hear You Now

A little more than half of the record has already been performed live, with just six left. Hopefully we'll see them performed sooner than later!

SING-A-LONG SONGS

Mike recently started performing an acapella version of a song during his sets after fans in Beijing literally stayed at the venue for an hour after his set ended singing Linkin Park songs. That is pure love for music. So far, only 'Faint' and 'Waiting For The End' have been performed in this format, 'Waiting For The End' now sort of an outro for the 'Waiting For The End' mashup with 'Where'd You Go.'

This part of the set opens up so much potential for songs. And by more potential, I mean Mike could literally play any song in his entire discography here. Now, this doesn't mean he'll be whipping out a 'Hit The Floor' acapella anytime soon (nor do we really want him to), but this does means he could start singing any song and the crowd will be singing along with him. The following songs have either never been performed live or haven't been performed in a very long time (or just haven't been played on the tour) that fans would 100% all sing at the top of their lungs if Mike were to lead an acapella of them:

Powerless

Halfway Right

No Roads Left

In My Remains

I'll Be Gone

Lying From You

Shadow Of The Day

The Little Things Give You Away

One More Light

The Catalyst

The Messenger

​A Place For My Head

Believe Me

In Stereo

There They Go

And honestly, the list could keep going on and on. Whatever song Mike's thinking of that day could be played. Mike could bring back that cover of Rihanna's 'Umbrella' he used to do in 2008 and people would still sing with him. These are just suggestions, of course. It'd be a cool spot for requests especially since it just requires him to lead the crowd rather than actually sing it himself. Of course, some songs lend themselves to singing-along with more than others, but these are just some suggestions!

THE PLAYLIST

So if you remember, a couple of month ago (on May 2, to be precise) Mike made this iTunes Playlist of songs he was considering for the Post Traumatic Tour. So far everything he's played on the tour so far (barring 'Introduction' and the new Post Traumatic songs) is on this playlist. My guess is that all these songs are ones he rehearsed or at least worked with while making his setlist (he made it a week and a half before he played his first show), so my guess is any song that's yet to be added is probably already on this playlist - and can probably be added in with minimal rehearsal (as mentioned before, a soundcheck is all they need). So far, this is what's on the playlist that hasn't been played yet:

Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From You

It's Goin' Down (Full)

Second To None

Until It Breaks (Full)

Cigarettes

Wretches & Kings

Believe Me

Invisible

A Light That Never Comes

It Goes Through

Skin To Bone

H! Vltg3

Big Pimpin'/Papercut (He's already playing 'Papercut')

In Stereo

Devil's Drop

Burning In The Skies

Points Of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer

Nothing Makes Sense Anymore

Iridescent

The Last Line

I figure this is the most realistic list of what we're working with, but you never know.

IN CONCLUSION

We're all super excited for the Post Traumatic tour as it slowly but surely makes its way around the world. As live enthusiasts, we love seeing new songs performed and love seeing the sets change every day, and especially seeing Mike having fun changing things up. We'll be honest - we end up getting pretty burned out when Linkin Park ends up playing the same setlist throughout the entire tour. The first few shows after a new set debuts are always exciting but... it gets old. The Hunting Party Tour was rough for us to keep our interests up. However, with this tour... Mike's exciting us. Every show is a new experience - we're actively looking up videos from the shows and scouring for details. Covering shows is super fun right now, and we want that to stay the way it is.

However, we don't want to make it seem like to keep us interested you have to keep changing the shows in really big ways. Not at all. There really haven't even been huge changes between some shows on this tour, but each show comes with its own special moments. Mike even said when he talked about LPLive in Shanghai: "For me, that’s one of the things that makes playing live shows so fun. Even if we’re doing the same set with Linkin Park for months, it would be fun to do little things that were different.” It really is the little things that make things interesting. Would we love to see 'No Roads Left' live? Of course. But at the end of the day we want to see Mike having fun performing a set he's proud of.

This post is for the fans, and is really just a culmination of all the requests we've seen. This doesn't guarantee any changes, but... hey, it was fun to write! What songs do YOU want to see performed live on the Post Traumatic Tour? Anything we missed that you'd like to hear?

I asked our Discord community and our Twitter followers on their opinions with this to make this post - be sure to join and follow on both! And don't forget to like our Facebook page and like our Instagram too. We just launched the new LPLive Archive YouTube Channel that is loaded with hours of rare content from the Linkin Park world, and we'll also be uploading videos from the Post Traumatic Tour there, too. Be sure to subscribe!

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If Mike brought back that Bleed It Out/ No Roads Left/ A Place For My Head mashup (with a little bit of tweaking obviously) people would lose their minds. If he could somehow manage one super epic mashup with how he has Good Goodbye and Bleed It Out in the set now, the world may just implode. I'd love any version of NRL though, in a mashup or just on it's own. Either Devil's Drop or It Goes Through would be awesome. I'm a huge fan of the live version of Cigarettes as well.

I know odds are slim-none but if Mike ever wants to add Nobody Can Save Me to a set list, he should definitely do it in Detroit because it would make my life

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I would really like to see some old hip-hop song in the set like Step Up (it's been about 9 years since the last performance) or Dedicated (full song live debut).

It Goes Through was on Mike's playlist before the tour started, so he was considering it. I hope gets played at some point, it's one of my favorite Linkin Park related songs.

The Dia de Los Deftones show would definitely be perfect for a Lift Off live debut. Another Post Traumatic song I'd really like to see live is Nothing Makes Sense Anymore. Can't believe it hasn't been played yet considering all other pre-release songs were.

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I am literally down with anything. I love the sets, stoked he has Kenji in there and is playing some of the Fort Minor stuff. Insanely deep cuts I don't think stand a chance because of the amount of Post Traumatic material in there. I do hope we see Promises live at some point.

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So if you remember, a couple of month ago (on May 2, to be precise) Mike made this iTunes Playlist of songs he was considering for the Post Traumatic Tour. So far everything he's played on the tour so far (barring 'Introduction' and the new Post Traumatic songs) is on this playlist. My guess is that all these songs are ones he rehearsed or at least worked with while making his setlist (he made it a week and a half before he played his first show), so my guess is any song that's yet to be added is probably already on this playlist - and can probably be added in with minimal rehearsal (as mentioned before, a soundcheck is all they need). So far, this is what's on the playlist that hasn't been played yet:

Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From You

It's Goin' Down (Full)

Second To None

Until It Breaks (Full)

Cigarettes

Wretches & Kings

Believe Me

Invisible

A Light That Never Comes

It Goes Through

Skin To Bone

H! Vltg3

Big Pimpin'/Papercut (He's already playing 'Papercut')

In Stereo

Devil's Drop

Burning In The Skies

Points Of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer

Nothing Makes Sense Anymore

Iridescent

The Last Line

I figure this is the most realistic list of what we're working with, but you never know.

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The Dia de Los Deftones show would definitely be perfect for a Lift Off live debut. Another Post Traumatic song I'd really like to see live is Nothing Makes Sense Anymore. Can't believe it hasn't been played yet considering all other pre-release songs were.